Saturday, July 22, 2006

More. Adventures With BOB

It was an errand running day for me. I started with coaxing The Owner out of the shop for lunch an hour earlier than he had intended. All the new people dusting off their bikes have been keeping him pretty busy.

Yesterday I followed two commuting bicyclists on the same street at the same time going the same direction. They weren’t together and I didn’t know either of them. Unprecedented!

I left home with 31 lbs of coin and a box of household hazardous waste in the trailer. I was ready to make an unattentive driver’s day - “Holy cow! Look at all this money!” “Uhh…yeah but it’s all covered in paint, lawnmower oil and miracle grow…hey, what’s that guy doing laying on the road over there?”

We went to the bank. We dropped the waste at the haz-waste-place and had a nice chat with an employee about the prospects of the state adopting more aggressive recycling laws and the city’s leadership in that effort. It was an unexpected and engaged conversation…and the prospects seemed low.

The next stop was the t-shirt shop. We rode about a mile on one of the more busy roads in the city. It was loud and required concentration…perfect conditions to forget my companion has been busy running a business while I’ve been riding around town all summer. Here is a picture of what it looks like to get dropped by the MinusCar guy:

Uhhh…sorry ‘bout that.

Next stop. Lunch. We parked our bikes, I grabbed a t-shirt sample and we sat down in the available outdoor seating. Apparently we were quite the spectacle. The people next to us wanted to know if we were giving away t-shirts. “Ummm…no.” One asked where we were riding too…a question reminiscent of the time I was asked if I was touring the country. “Ummm…we went to the bank and the haz-waste-place?” They wanted to see the shirt. I obliged and invited them to the site...I wonder if they'll visit.